Call for Chapter Contributions: The Interdependence of the Convention on the Rights of the Child - Understanding the Relationship of the Right to Play with other Convention Rights
Editor: Dr Naomi Lott (University of Oxford)
The nature of human rights, including children’s rights, as universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated requires that the Convention on the Rights of the Child be perceived as a whole (Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 1993). This means that the rights therein must be examined from the perspective of their relationship with other Convention rights (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 1991; Lott, 2020). The breadth of scope, content, and impact of the right to play, as well as the spaces in which children seek to engage in play, underscores the need to reflect upon the interdependence of the rights within the Convention. This is critical both for understanding the relationships and implementation of other Convention rights, and to strengthening understanding and implementation of the right to play. It has been acknowledged that the right to play must not be ‘considered in isolation’ but rather should be considered through ‘inter-linking all relevant rights recognised in the treaty’ (Davey and Lundy, 2011; David, 2006; Lott, 2020). This edited collection is thus a key step in furthering understanding of both the right to play and the Convention as a whole.
The book will provide critical engagement with the right to play and its relationship to other Convention rights. It will be of considerable value in bringing together experts across various children’s rights issues and inviting them to consider the intersections of their work with the child’s right to play. An essential step to furthering the understanding and implementation of the right to play as this novel area of research develops, this contribution will also further develop the field of children’s rights law and support stronger implementation of children’s rights more broadly. Contributions will provide recommendations for policy and practice as well as engaging critically with the topic at an academic level.
The editor, Dr Naomi Lott (University of Oxford), invites expressions of interest from potential contributors considering the right to play using the following non-exhaustive topics:
o Interdependence of children’s rights and child rights implementation
o Incorporation of interdependent rights
o Specific Convention rights and their relation to the right to play
o General principles of the CRC and the right to play
o The right to play and specific contexts or groups of children (e.g. children with disabilities, adolescents, children in detention, play in schools) o Obligations and interdependent rights
o Monitoring interdependent rights
o Child rights theory
Interested contributors are invited to submit an abstract of 250-500 words and a brief biography to naomi.lott@law.ox.ac.uk by 10th December 2021.
Successful applicants will be invited to participate in an event during the 2022/2023 academic year to disseminate the research. Final drafts, following review, will be expected June 2023. A contract for the edited collection will be sought with Oxford University Press following the selection of abstracts. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.